Survey Finds Senior-Level Marketers Not Focusing
on Important Aspects of Return On Investment

More than half of senior-level marketers surveyed are dissatisfied with their ability to define, measure and act on ROI

New York City and Wilton, CT, July 6, 2005
A new Marketing Accountability study, conducted by Marketing Management Analytics (MMA), the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), and Forrester Research in April 2005, reveals a major disconnect between what senior-level marketers rate as “very important” or “important”
and what they say they are actually doing regarding marketing return on investment (ROI). While some 60% of senior-level marketers surveyed said that defining, measuring and taking action on ROI is important, only about 20% reported being satisfied with their ability to do so. The study surveyed 135 senior-level marketers/ANA members. MMA is an independent operating unit of Carat, one of the world's leading media services companies.

The full survey findings will be revealed in an address by John Nardone, MMA’s Executive Vice President and Chief Client Officer; Ed See, MMA’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; and Jim Nail, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, at the ANA’s 2005 Marketing Accountability Forum July 20, 2005, in the Grand Hyatt, New York City. Along with these findings, Ed See and John Nardone will present a study that focuses on identifying levels of maturity across various industries and overcoming the organizational challenges to improving marketing accountability. The ANA Marketing Accountability Forum will highlight
current thinking in marketing accountability and present best-in-class case studies. Conference information and online registration can be found at http://www.ana.net/events/training.htm.

“The survey acknowledges that the industry recognizes it has a problem,” said MMA’s Nardone. “Part of the difficulty is that while companies are expending a lot of effort on accountability, the work isn’t organized from senior management on down and integrated within a company but siloed within an individual department.”

The survey also reported that marketers are not confident about measuring the impact of marketing on sales. The vast majority of marketers surveyed -- 73% -- reported a lack of confidence in understanding the sales impact of a marketing campaign.

“The key to improving marketing accountability is a company’s establishing of a marketing effectiveness roadmap that addresses its people, processes and technology,” said MMA’s See.

“The face of marketing is changing and now more than ever measuring marketing success is an investment,” said Robert Liodice, president and CEO of the ANA. “Once it becomes an investment, the need for accountability goes up. CEOs are now demanding the same level of accountability from marketing that they are accustomed to receive from operations and finance.”

The ANA recently established a marketing accountability task force to review best practices across numerous verticals, compile standards for defining marketing ROI, and describe tools that can simplify ROI calculations.

About the ANA
The ANA's mission is to provide indispensable leadership that drives marketing communications, media and brand management excellence and champions, promotes and defends industry interests. The ANA is the industry’s foremost and recognized source of marketing communications best practices. It also leads industry initiatives, influences industry practices, manages industry affairs, and advances, promotes and protects all advertisers and marketers. The trade association represents 355 companies with 8,000 brands that collectively spend over $100 billion in marketing communications and advertising. For more information visit www.ana.net.